More Than Salad
First, let me start by saying that this is not a low-fat recipe. Okay, that’s out of the way.
The good news? Some recipes are worth all the hours you’re gonna have to spend in the gym trying to burn off the calories you consumed in only one sitting. This is one of them.
It’s got bacon, and avocado. Which, I gather, doesn’t come as a total surprise to you. But the thing that really makes this salad pop are the sun-dried tomato & garlic croutons.
The dressing I made is a new favorite. Nothing extravagant, fancy, or even unique. It’s an easy creamy garlic dressing that is surprisingly light in flavor because of the twist I gave it. Not to mention the loads of Parmesan that went into it.
It’s safe to say this is now my new favorite salad. Give it a try, it might end up being yours as well.
Ingredients:
Salad:
butter lettuce
lollo rosso (or other curly lettuce) (http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/ingredients/detail/lollo-rosso )
3oz bacon
1/2 red onion
1 avocado
12 cherry tomatoes
1 ball mozzarella
Croutons:
1 ciabatta (preferable stale)
2 garlic cloves
3 sun-dried tomatoes (on oil)
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 tsp dried basil
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
4 tbsp oil
Dressing:
4 Tbsp Hellmann’s
2 Tbsp sour cream
1/2 garlic clove
freshly cracked black pepper
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
fresh chives
Parmesan
Directions:
* Photographic intense posting ahead. Just because I felt like it.
I used my oven to cook the bacon. Drape them on a grill rack to get that pretty wave. We’ll need the drippings as well.
I put the bacon in a preheated at 375ºF (175ºC) for 20 minutes. Until nice and crispy.
In your food processor you combine the oil, grated garlic, cayenne, sun-dried tomatoes, black pepper, basil and salt.
You know this will be a flavor-bomb, right?
Pulse until you have a flavored oil with an almost pesto rosso like appearance.
Cube the ciabatta. I prefer my croutons a bit bigger.
Add the flavored oil and just dig your hands in there.
I love working with my hands. Don’t stop until every bread cube has sucked up some of the oil.
The bacon should be done by now.
Leaving you with all this bacon fat. Terrible, isn’t it?
See where I’m going with this?
Add the croutons and mix them up until all the fat has been sucked into the bread.
Like your croutons saltier? Sprinkle a little kosher salt on top of them before baking. Bake the croutons at 350ºF (175ºC) for 20 to 25 minutes. Until they’re all crunchy and golden-brown.
In a bowl you mix the Hellmann’s (It must be Hellmann’s, sorry!) with the sour cream.
Grate the garlic in there. Use the whole clove if you like your dressing heavy on garlic.
Clearly this is not a good recipe for those of you going out on a first date.
Season it with freshly cracked black pepper. No salt. The mayo is salty and we’ll add Parmesan and bacon to the salad.
Rice vinegar is the secret ingredient here. I absolutely love what this does to the dressing.
Add 1/4 tsp onion powder.
Mix it all up.
Grate in as much Parmesan as you like, and don’t be shy now!
Finely mince a few chives and stir them in.
The croutons should be ready by now.
My cherry tomatoes were huge, so I cut each one in four. I thinly sliced the red onion and cubed the avocado.
Wash and dry your lettuce of choice.
I sliced the butter lettuce in coarse piece.
And added the Lollo Rosso to it.
I would be perfectly happy just grabbing a fistful of lettuce and dipping it into the dressing. But I realize not everyone is such a glutton for gluttonous foods.
So in stead I added 1 1/2 tbsp sauce to the lettuce. I don’t want to drown it, just coat it.
Work the dressing into the salad with your hands.
You can distribute it more evenly when you use your hands for this.
Rip the mozzarella into chunks and add the remaining ingredients to the salad.
Finish the salad with the crispy bacon and croutons. Serve the rest of the dressing on the side.
Like the title says: this is much more than a salad. This is a hearty meal on its own.
As you waste your breath complaining about life, someone out there is breathing their last.
Appreciate what you have.
Be thankful and stop complaining.
Live more, complain less.
Have more smiles, less stress.
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Posted by: "Jodi Thompson" <tigger63755@charter.net>
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